Online gaming, the cure for Greece economy

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is searching for new income sources.

Greece.- Legislation of the online gambling industry may be helpful for the debt crisis Greece is facing since 2010. US$550 million are estimated to gather in each year, thanks to Internet casinos. The major need for new markets speeds up the development of a regularised industry.

This optimistic plan requires massive participation of players and great operator’s inversion. Tryfon Alexiadis, Deputy Prime Minister, announced that the upcoming project will provide iGaming licences to qualified operators at a cost of US$3.3 million. Taxes will rate a minimum of US$ 1 million per year. But for now, the formal bill has not been released.

Whether the legislation includes only Greek citizens or Europeans in general is still unknown. Only in the country, the number of bettors has increased since the bailout as well as Greek debt, so the national market is interested in operators. The average age of individuals that start gambling is 20, five years younger than in 2010, according to the Therapy Centre for Dependent Individuals in Athens. But addicts in treatment also increased five percent since 2010.